Now I am by no means what people would call a wanderlust, and I’m not someone who travels often, but when I do, I try as much as possible to travel efficiently in comfort and convenience. I’ve got a few small trips planned this year, and thought I’d put together a small list of travel tips that might help you on your next trip.

Roll your clothes when packing to fit more

Just like in your wardrobe, clothes aren’t fully flat and the more you stack the more wasted space you’ll have around your bag. Next time you travel, try rolling your clothes up one by one and fitting them in, you’ll find you can fit much more in your bag and less chances of your clothes getting wrinkled. You’ll be surprised!

Don’t be scared to ask at check-in for a row to yourself

Depending on the time of your flight or time of the year you are travelling, chances are that it won’t always be a fully packed flight (unless you’ve grabbed those ridiculously discounted airfares). Make friends with the check-in personnel and see if they can position you in an empty row for yourself. Yay to lying down on your long flight!

Always go for the aisle seats

Yes, in the past being excited to have a window seat is cool, and it is. …for the first 1 minute of take off. You’ll find that most plane window seats have less leg room than aisle seats as the sides of the aircraft naturally curve in. On long flights, for me having leg room is a big factor to allow me to travel in comfort, have my legs out in the aisles and not have to worry about sleeping neighbours if I need to get out to the toilet or call a flight steward for any reason. I’d rather arrive at my destination well rested and not grumpy from an uncomfortable flight.

7/11 doesn’t sell mens undies.

Do your laundry! In my recent travels I was strapped for time (including drying time) and was hoping to get my washing done at the next hotel, only to find there wasn’t any laundry or washing services nearby. The 7/11 right downstairs had everything for women including womens panties but nothing for men. Lucky the luxurious shopping mall located about 15 minutes walk away was open and had to splurge on some fancy $60 underwear. Also, don’t believe your friends if they tell you they sell mens undies at the 7/11. (looks at John, Mark and Paolo!)

Hotels and motels normally provide shampoo, soap, conditioner etc.

Most hotels, especially larger hotels will provide you with all your toiletry needs. Not only is it complimentary, but take them home with your for your next travels and simply refill them. Problem solved!

Invest in noise cancelling ear phones

The loud noise of the plane’s engine, neighbours snoring, and crying babies isn’t a pleasant site for any traveller. Do yourself a favour and invest in some decent noise cancelling earphones or headphones. This will help block out the outer noises and enable you to zone out, chill out and relax on your long flight. I suggest trying out the headphones that they fit your head well and comfortably. Nothing too bulky and nothing too tight with a long enough cord.

Sunnies make good eye patches for overnight flights or if you want to sleep onboard.

Yes eye patches aren’t expensive, and normally complimentary onboard your flight, but I’m not sure if it’s just me, but they are quite uncomfortable to wear. For any flight I just keep my sunnies on me at all times, helps block out the light and also helps you check out any good looking girls from across from you in the plane. Or not..

Don’t be one of those people who stand up straight away

In the excitement of landing at your destination, or landing back home. Don’t be one of those people who rush to stand up in a hurry to get up as soon as the seatbelt sign is off, because in 99.9 cases out of 100, chances are you will be left standing up, awkwardly amongst a sea of other hurried passengers and probably in a low head height area if you are on a side seat. Just sit down, relax, and chill, the flight staff and ground staff have certain protocols to follow before doors can be opened, and even then, it will probably be awhile til its your turn to get up and go. Use this time to turn your phone on if you haven’t already, and write a status about these people awkwardly rushing to stand up and go. #awkward

Pack light, essentials can be bought

Don’t grow into a habit of bringing an excessive amount of ‘just in case’s’. Bring what you know you will definitely need, anything else can be purchased locally including mosquito repellent, facial cream, etc. Your heavy boots can stay at home. Plan out your outfit for the days if you can.

Invest in a handy weigh scale

If you’re flying a few domestic flights with strict baggage requirements, there are a heap of handheld weight scales that can be purchased for about $10 and can be brought around with you. Having atleast one in your travel group would be enough, and will help save you from any financial headaches at the check-in counter.

If your accomodation provides laundry, take advantage.

As above, I can’t stress this enough. Get your clothes washed when possible, sometimes you won’t know when or where you’ll be able to get your clothes washed next.

Beware of pasalubong

When flying in as well as coming back, especially to and from the Philippines, you’ll find it a regular occurrence for your bags to be half full of gifts for your family and friends. Not saying not to accept them, but just keep it in mind incase your baggage is jam packed with those 17 pairs of fake jordans you purchased from Green Hills for your cousins.
(EDIT: Pasalubong (Tagalog, “[something] for when you welcome me”) is the Filipino tradition of travellers bringing gifts from their destination to people back home. Pasalubong can be any gift or souvenir brought for family or friends after being away for a period of time.)

Ask accommodation to arrange transfers and transport.

Depending on where you are staying, you’ll find that the front desk has many trusted options for transportation to shops, airport or just down to the main part of town. This will save you the hassle of going out to the street and trying to find a cab or jeep. Just let them know what time you need a cab there and they’ll notify you once it’s ready. If taking several types of transport, such as bus, shuttle, boat, van, again your hotel will be able to suggest the best way to have it all arranged for you. In my case, I’d rather pay for convenience than put up with headaches guessing and finding ways to commute. One less thing to worry about!

Buy one universal adapter and one power board

When you’re traveling with a group or what not, you might find yourself sharing your universal adapters to fit your local adapter shaped plug, charging your phones, tablets, laptops, adult toys and other electronics. Do yourself a favour and bring a power board with your adapter. Thats 4-6 power points for the price of one! You can thank me later.

Sometimes its good to have no plans. Spontaneity is always fun!

If you don’t have much planned, or don’t know what to do, spend your day making decisions on a whim. You never know what you’ll discover this way.

Relax on your flight

For most people, catching a flight means going for a getaway, a vacation, a break from every day life. Start off your trip by ‘switching off’ and starting on the right foot. Let go of your responsibilities, leave them at home or at work if you can, it’s time to enjoy yourself and relax. Boarding your flight and leaving your worries behind will help you get into the right holiday mindset. You can worry about it all when you come back!

So that’s it, you can probably tell I’m the type to spend my time abroad worry-free, hassle free, relaxed and as comfortable as possible. The way it should be! Organise as much as you can before your trip and do your research!

How about a trip down memory lane with me and my DJ history with (or lack thereof) DJ equipment?

The curious and determined young DJ

Starting out DJing at a young age wasn’t any easy task, with no real budget to get ‘proper’ equipment, and no real knowledge on what to get, it was like jumping into the deep end.

The upside? I had very supportive parents. Although at the time, it might’ve looked like yet another expensive phase and having to fork out 1000s of dollars on toys probably wasn’t on anyones wishlist but mine. It actually turns out that my Dad was a DJ back in his hometown of Daet, Bicol. DJing with his family, his dad and cousins and providing all the sound production gear for the towns big events and bands.

My humble beginnings as a DJ actually began back in high school at our Year 8 End of Year disco, my first ever DJ gig. Yes, we held it down for two periods! You’d probably laugh if you saw anyone rockin’ the same gear as we did, get this.

2 CD Discmans and 1 Microphone mixer, just like the one here.

The Break

A week later, a classmate of mine asked me to DJ her birthday at her house, but with what? Told my parents about the deal and my Dad bought me a 4-channel mixer for this gig! (The exact one pictured here). Over the moon! So together with my two home theatre systems’ CD players and speakers, off we were to my first private gig.

Moving along, the gigs rolled in, and little by little I was getting busier with house parties from every grade at my school. At this time, I had no idea what I was worth and just ended up getting paid whatever they (or their parents) felt like giving me which was awesome for lunch money.

The Upgrade

I can’t remember exactly when, but my bestfriend and I had a 13th (or was it 14th?) Joint Birthday bash which was a massive turnout in a smoke-filled community hall, and probably what kicked off our now annual ‘March Madmess’ birthday festivities. Without having to steer away from the point of this article, this was a massive party and our birthday presents proved so (so thanks to everyone that was there and gave us presents!). Savings and gigs later I ended up saving up enough money to upgrade to some proper Dual DJ CD Players I saw for sale online for $750 in Eastwood, which I still have to this day for keepsake.

The gigs still kept rolling in, and slowly upgrades to lighting, and speakers all came through – of course, with the financial assistance and support of my parents.

This was my kit that got me through all my gigs through high school, playing at all the community halls and house parties in the area.

Come 18, it’s time to grow up and move on.

Only being exposed to my own DJing style and setup for all these years through highschool, I wanted to get into the nightclub scene but was hesitant and scared. What if I was doing something wrong? How would I know? I want to play in the R&B and Hip Hop clubs?

They’re all gonna laugh at me if I turn up with my CDs?

This last question was my main concern and the reason for my next upgrade. Turntables.

Feeling like my current setup was outdated and it was time to grow up and move on, I saved up enough money for two Technics SL-1200 MK2 turntables, and also bought a Pioneer DJM400 mixer (on the cheap and brand new off a close friend). Now where can I find records to rock a solid set when all my music is on CD? Enter Serato!

During this time, it was the end of the analog era, and digital was still in the middle of transition with Serato Scratch Live being something completely new and foreign to many ol’ skool DJs. The purchase was made and the practicing started (and til today has not stopped). Days, weeks, months went on where I doubted my skills if it was up to club standard.

The club break

Throughout high school and after high school I released a few mixes that got around which were recorded 100% live. I could never for the life of me figure out how to do all these fancy intros and layers on mixtapes, so pretty much I had to complete a seamless error free mix that was 80 minutes long. These got around and most of my friends enjoyed what I did and because of this and the fact that they knew I was still DJing, they really pushed me and motivate me to get into the club scene.

I was surrounded by many regular clubbers, who would be out getting drunk every Friday and Saturday, week in-week out. The word got around and got heard by the right people and was fortunate enough to land myself my first ever club gig, Chocolate City @ UN.

First gig was a success, I brought my friends with me who also knew club promoters from the other clubs who happened to be there at the same time I was playing. They enjoyed my music and I found myself with another club gig the following week! From there, I guess I’ve never looked back, I’ve met many people on the journey which makes it the whole experience 100x more fun.

So where am I now?

14 or so years later, I find myself with regular club gigs allowing me to play at various events, with different styles of music – ol skool, new skool, EDM and even deep house. The corporate gigs and agencies have also hit me up for gigs through the network of people I’ve met through the years and finding myself on the frontpage of Westfield Sydney every Thursday and Friday is pretty fun.

Whilst I’m sure you can say 14 years of DJing is a long time, and as you can imagine, we all get older too, so its only naturally, that the people I’ve grown up around are getting married and requiring DJs for their weddings too. A whole new ballgame but just as exciting as any other gig, with the added appreciation of cheesey music without any shame – I’m talking Hanson, Vengaboys and Aqua being played and sung out to the top of their lungs!

And where are you going?

Right now I’m finding myself getting busier and busier with private and corporate gigs requiring me to bring my own complete setup, from DJ equipment, lights, mics, speakers and subs to even projectors and more. Being a mobile DJ, you would want to make your own job as easy as possible, and lugging around 2 turntables and a mixer just didn’t cut it.

With the rise of MIDI DJ Controllers and all-in-one units becoming available on the market, I couldn’t look past the reputation of Pioneer and got myself the Pioneer DDJ SX, a handy 4-channel, all in one unit with a roadcase, which is probably lighter than one turntable on its own. The extra channels allow me to plug in a Microphone and a Line In for any random requirements and seems to be my current workhorse for current gigs. Depending on how I’m feeling I might even take out my turntables and Rane TTM57 for a bit of an ol’ skool feel.

At the time of this post, I’m enjoying what I do and am greatful that the bookings continue to roll in, I have a whole bunch of talented fellow DJs around me and am currently in the middle of trying to build something bigger, and build more opportunities outside the nightclub scene for the DJs that I believe deserve to be out there doing what they do best but just don’t get the opportunities to do so.

Something out of nothing.

As you can see, and as I can see now after writing this post, anyone can achieve their dreams and reach their goals with determination and persistence. When I did that first Year 8 Disco gig, I never would’ve thought I’d be living the life of a full-time DJ at any stage, nor did I think I’d be able to get the kind of opportunities to play for and meet some of the interesting people I have.

Meet people. Network. Let them know what you do and how you can help them. Surround yourself with people who support what you do.

I guess this goes for anyone, no matter what dreams, goals or passions you may have. If you’re truly passionate about what you do, you will subconsciously make the right decisions to get to where you want to be. From DJing to my grade on discmans, to DJing internationally in the next 2 months wasn’t an easy ride by any means, but atleast I know for myself one thing remained the same, and that was that the passion from the start and til now is what got me to where I am today.

Sydney’s New Downtown. Live, work and shop at Central Park, Sydney’s new downtown destination where a global collaboration of architects and artists have created an exciting urban village.

Central Park has been built, designed and engineered by only the World’s Best which explains why it is one of the top ‘Skyscrapers’ in the world albeit it’s minimal levels. Not to mention their extended high-speed WiFi throughout the precinct it’s quickly becoming a central hub, for young shoppers and uni students from surrounding campuses.

There are many high tech and environmentally friendly solutions that have been built around the building itself and its surroundings, many of which I’m still yet to get my head around, but Central Park is not just any ordinary Shopping Mall, but an all-new and quickly growing community-focused centre aiming to take you away from the hustle and bustle of the Sydney CBD.

With this, I’d like to officially and proudly announce that I’ve been approached by Central Park to come onboard and manage their music inhouse, ambience, as well as assist in driving this through their social media channels through various marketing campaigns and events. It’s a new role that’s been created and will be starting it all from scratch due to launch soon! I’ll be working closely with the team at Central Park to help get it all underway and get the community involved. I can assure you, there’ll be something for everyone, even if you’re not physically there!

Image by CentralParkSydney.com

If you’re keen to let me know your thoughts or check out what we’re working on, drop me an email or message and I’ll make sure to get you involved!

Find out more about Central Park Sydney at http://www.centralparksydney.com

A very good friend of mine, Alain and his family have been running their Lao and Thai restaurant for less than a year and are already making noise within the restaurant scene. Featured in today’s Daily Telegraph some of Sydney’s top chefs have compiled a guide to Sydney’s 25 best-value eats.

Our very good and long-time friends at Big Creativa are expanding and are looking for Sydney’s hottest new design genius!

FREELANCE DESIGNER REQUIRED
Award-winning creative agency located in South-Western Sydney looking for an in-house junior designer.This is a great opportunity for a foot in the door with a growing agency with a wide variety of clients.

Your creativity will knock our socks off. You are fun, responsible, adventurous and awesome. You can handle deadlines. You like coffee or tea and most importantly your portfolio will showcase some kick ass work.

The successful applicant will be guaranteed a minimum of 16 hours’ work per week. (Two days in house)and may be required for additional work from home during busy periods.

The range of work will include ongoing brand and print work for a wide variety of clients, all social media content production, help with pitches, presentations and internal documents.

We are looking for someone for an immediate start, and look forward to speaking to you soon! email hello@bigcreativa.com.au

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